How to play Ms. Pac-Man online
- Steer Ms. Pac-Man: arrow keys
- One or two players: up and down arrows on the title screen, or F2 (Select)
- Starting level: left and right arrows on the title screen
- Start a game: F3 (Reset)
- Pause: F4
- Full screen: F9
No fire button is needed. Both the USA (NTSC) and Europe (PAL) cartridges are on this page; use the switch above the game to change.
Gameplay
Ms. Pac-Man has to eat every dot in the maze while four ghosts, Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Sue, hunt her down. Each maze has four energy pills. Swallow one and the ghosts turn blue for a short time, so she can chase and eat them before they change back. Tunnels at the edges of the maze lead off one side of the screen and back in on the other, which is often the best way to shake off a ghost.
After each cleared maze a new bonus item comes into play, and these items bounce around the maze instead of sitting still. There are four different maze layouts, and the game speeds up as you go. You have five lives; when they are gone, the show is over. Three short cartoon intermissions play after the Strawberry, Apple and second Random Fruit mazes.
Starting levels and bonus items
On the title screen you choose where to begin. Each level is named after its bonus item, from the easy Teddy Bear up to the Banana. Get past the Banana maze and the game moves on to random-fruit mazes.
| Level / bonus item | Points |
|---|---|
| Teddy Bear | 50 |
| Cherries | 100 |
| Strawberry | 200 |
| Orange | 500 |
| Pretzel | 700 |
| Apple | 1,000 |
| Pear | 2,000 |
| Banana | 5,000 |
| Random fruits | 100–5,000 |
Tips
- Don’t waste the energy pills. Leave them until the ghosts are close behind you, then lure them near a pill before you eat it.
- Clear the dots quickly. The longer you linger in a maze, the more chances the ghosts get to corner you.
- Use the tunnels. When you are being chased, the side exits are the quickest way out of trouble.
- Don’t chase every bonus item. They wander and can lead you straight into a ghost. Grab them only when the path is clear.
- Start low while learning. Teddy Bear is the gentlest starting level; move up once you know the four mazes.
The story behind Ms. Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man started as Crazy Otto, an add-on kit for the Pac-Man arcade machine made by programmers at General Computer Corporation (GCC). Midway bought it, and in 1982 it became Ms. Pac-Man. Compared with Pac-Man it added four mazes instead of one, bonus items that move, smarter ghosts and extra escape tunnels.
GCC also designed the Atari 7800 itself, and Ms. Pac-Man was one of the 13 games announced for its launch. AtariProtos credits Allen Wells and Bruce Burns of GCC with the 7800 version, written in 1984. When Jack Tramiel bought Atari that year, the console was shelved, and Ms. Pac-Man only reached shops with the 7800’s launch in 1986. AtariProtos was not impressed: in its view the game looks and sounds much like the older Atari 5200 version, though it plays a little faster.
